Christian Author Rachel Held Evans Passed Away

A progressive Christian author named Rachel Held Evans known
for writing the best-selling books “Searching for Sunday” and “Faith
Unraveled,” passed away Saturday in a Tennessee hospital of extensive brain
swelling following treatment for an infection. She was 37.

Rachel suffered brain seizures during treatment for an
infection and was placed in a medically induced coma. Doctors tried to reduce
the swelling in her brain but were unable to save her.

Her husband Dan Evans wrote in a statement on her website, “This
entire experience is surreal. I keep hoping it’s a nightmare from which I’ll
awake. I feel like I’m telling someone else’s story.”

Her website says she wrote about “faith, doubt, and life in the Bible Belt.” By addressing sexism and racism and “championing voices of people who have been marginalized in the church,” Evans challenged the evangelical community.

Rachel Evans served on previous President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She often spoke at churches, universities, and conferences around the country.

The 37-year-old, a mother of two children, kicked the bucket
surrounded by her husband and friends.